TNT Heads to the Courtroom with New Steven Bochco LegalDrama Series RAISING THE BAR, Starring Mark-Paul Gosselaar, GloriaReuben and Jane Kaczmarek

TNT has given the greenlight to RAISING THE BAR, thelatest series from the mastermind of legal dramas, Emmy®-winner StevenBochco. The series, which stars Mark-Paul Gosselaar (NYPD Blue), GloriaReuben (ER) and Jane Kaczmarek (Malcolm in the Middle), follows thelives and cases of young lawyers who have been friends since lawschool, but who now work on opposing sides. TNT has ordered 10 episodesof RAISING THE BAR, which was created by Bochco and lawyer/writer DavidFeige (Indefensible). It comes to TNT from ABC Studios and BochcoMedia, with Bochco serving as executive producer. Bochco and Feigewrote the story for the pilot episode, and Feige wrote the script. Thepilot was directed by Jesse Bochco (The Closer). The series is slatedto premiere later this year.

“RAISING THE BAR is the sort of smart, highly chargedlegal drama for which Steven Bochco is known and an ideal fit for ourline-up,” said Michael Wright, senior vice president in charge of thecontent creation group for TNT, TBS and TCM. “Steven and theexceptional cast and crew he’s assembled have put together an excellentdrama, and we’re proud to add another talent-rich, entertaining seriesto the TNT schedule.”

In RAISING THE BAR, Gosselaar stars as Jerry Kellerman,an idealistic public defender who will stop at nothing to help thosewho cannot help themselves. Reuben plays Rosalind Whitman, hispassionate and protective boss. Teddy Sears (Ugly Betty) is RichardPatrick Woolsley, who foregoes a cushy job in his father’s firm to workfor the public defender’s office. On the opposite side, MelissaSagemiller (Sleeper Cell) plays Michelle Ernhardt, an attorney in theDA’s office with an unassailable morality and a burning desire to seejustice done. She works for assistant DA Nick Balco, played by CurrieGraham (Boston Legal), a bit of a lecher who, nevertheless, has arazor-sharp knowledge of the law. They are joined by J. August Richards(Conviction) as Marcus McGrath, who will stop at nothing to putcriminals behind bars. The courtroom arena in which they face offbelongs to Judge Trudy Kessler, played by Kaczmarek. She is imperiousand known throughout legal circles to be a little crazy, treating thecourtroom as her own private fiefdom. Working for her is law clerkCharlie Sagansky, played by Jonathan Scarfe (Into the West), a man witha wealth of secrets.

J. August Richards never thought he would have anything in common with someone like Harrison Ford.

Richards plays Marcus McGrath on TNT’s “Raising theBar,” returning for a second season tonight at 10. But many fans stillremember him as Charles Gunn on the cult hit “Angel.” Even though thedrama went off the air in 2004, he is constantly approached by fans ofthat show.

“I don’t think I have a very accurate idea of theshow’s impact,” he said in a recent telephone interview from LosAngeles. “People act like meeting me is like meeting Han Solo. The showis still kind of living on, which is a strange thing to me.”

Richards said he had to let go of his own views to play the conservative prosecutor on the TNT drama.

“I’m as liberal as they come,” Richards said. “Marcusis very conservative, very judgmental. I had to allow myself to let goof all that I was thinking about him. It was a really spiritual processin a way. For me, a character isn’t clear until I figure out the spineof who they are, and I understand someone on a quest for justice.Marcus is constantly trying to even out the scale. When you understandthat, you understand everything.”

“Even people who don’t know the show have a commentabout his hair,” Richards said and then laughed. “Everyone was talkingabout his hair. I was like, ‘Is Mark-Paul Gosselaar the new Madonna ?’”

The Maryland native has wanted to be an actor since hesaw the movie “King Kong” as a child. “I remember thinking and askingmy father, ‘Where is that right now ? Can I go there ?’ ”

Nearly a decade ago, the Los Angeles Times followedRichards for a year to chronicle an African-American actor auditioningin Hollywood. That happened to be the year he landed “Angel.” Does hethink the industry has changed since then ?

“It’s interesting. People will say to me, ‘You’re asupporting actor and when are you going to get your own show ?’ And Ithink, ‘What show is that ?’ There isn’t one. Inroads are being made.(Producer) Shonda Rhimes did something so revolutionary (with ABC’s‘Grey’s Anatomy’) by having more than one person of color on the sameshow,” he said. “But there’s a distance to go. A distance to climb. Forme specifically, it’s been amazing. I’ve been blessed to work with thebest producers in the business. I cannot complain. Even slightly.”

Arrow An Angel (alum) will descend upon Starling City next week, in the form of J. August Richards playing a hit man dubbed Mr. Blank. Per showrunner Andrew Kreisberg, “He’s a very cool new villain to add to our rogues gallery” — and one that almost was lifted from DC lore. “Originally, we were going to try to do Onomatopoeia, a villain from Kevin Smith’s run [of New Earth comics], but Kevin apparently said in an interview that there was no way to bring that character to television and film — and after a while we agreed with him!” (Ono’s shtick was the ability to mimic sounds.) Instead, with Mr. Blank, Arrow gets a tantalizingly “innocuous assassin, somebody who has strength and power but is just sort of there in the background. That’s how we came up with the name, because he’s not really anything or anyone.”And now, even more Arrow scoop, plus many other reader questions answered…